Overclocked Radeon HD 4870 X2 Shoot-Out: ASUS, MSI

Name: Overclocked Radeon HD 4870 X2 Shoot-Out: ASUS, MSI - Page 9
Brand: Overclocked

by Marco Chiappetta — Tuesday, November 11, 2008, 01:00 PM EDT

Our Summary and Conclusion

Performance Summary: As expected, the Asus EAH4870X2 TOP and MSI R4870X2-T2D2G-OC both outperformed a reference Radeon HD 4870 X2, nearly across the board. The only instance where the factory overclocked Asus and MSI cards didn't clearly outpace the reference card was in the CPU bound 3DMark06 default test. In the SM 3.0 / HDR tests build into 3DMark06, however, the Asus and MSI cards came out on the top. Overall, the Asus EAH4870X2 TOP finished just ahead of the MSI R4870X2-T2D2G-OC due to its slightly higher GPU and memory frequencies, but the performance deltas were minimal.

MSI R4870X2-T2D2G-OC:
Although the MSI R4870X2-T2D2G-OC wasn't clocked quite as high as Asus' offering, with only 10MHz and 15MHz separating their GPU and memory frequencies respectively, it still performed extremely well in our tests as the benchmarks have shown. The MSI R4870X2-T2D2G-OC's bundle was also a bit light as it lacked any power adapters, but MSI got one of the most important things absolutely right--the price. As of today, the MSI R4870X2-T2D2G-OC can be found for the same price as the non-overclocked version of the Asus EAH4870X2, $549. That's about $20 to $30 more than most reference X2s, but we suspect spending a few extra bucks for one of the fastest graphics cards on the market will be acceptable to most of you in the market for a high-end graphics card like the MSI R4870X2-T2D2G-OC.


Competitive Price Geat Performance Factory Overclocked 2GB GDDR5	No Power Adapters in Bundle Not Clocked Quite as High as Asus

Asus EAH4870X2 TOP:
The Asus EAH4870X2 TOP is the fastest, most powerful graphics card that we have tested to date. Unfortunately, it is also another in a string of recent Asus graphics card releases that we haven't been able to find for sale when publishing our coverage. With its overclocked GPU and GDDR5 memory, the Asus EAH4870X2 TOP proved to be quite a performer, and its bundle is fairly complete too. But that doesn't do you all much good if you can't buy the thing. The "non-TOP" version of the card is available at a few on-line retailers for about $530 - $550, but the version we tested here hasn't surfaced just yet. When it does though, we suspect it may be overshadowed by a more custom version Asus has planned, like the tri-fan version pictured here. Regardless, if you can find it, the EAH4870X2 TOP is sure to please even the most demanding enthusiast--this card is as fast as they come currently.